


Embracing Love

by Howlingdawn



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: 5+1 Things, BAMF Nyota Uhura, F/M, Fluff, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, Kissing, Light Angst, Making Out, Romance, but i had the idea and couldn't let it go, partially cause i don't wanna, partially cause i'd have no idea wtf i'm doing, set in my We Could Not Stay verse, we don't write the actual smut in this house
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:02:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22036747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Howlingdawn/pseuds/Howlingdawn
Summary: Hugs aren't really a thing for Vulcans. Neither is kissing. Nyota knew that when she fell in love with Spock, and she was ok with that. But he's half human too, and she makes him comfortable with embracing what his Vulcan upbringing would deny him.(Or: Five times Spock and Nyota hugged, and one time they went a little further.)
Relationships: Spock/Nyota Uhura
Comments: 4
Kudos: 72





	Embracing Love

**Author's Note:**

> This is probably my last AO3 fic of the decade, unless I pull off a miracle within the remaining 34 hours, which feels SUPER weird to say. But I couldn't be happier that Star Trek is the fandom I'm ending the decade with. So here's to celebrating the past decade of Trek, and here's hoping the 20s bring many more good things to the fandom!
> 
> (Also, cause 'tis the season, there's a Hanukkah scene, and I did my best to be true to it but I was raised Christian so idk much, so apologies in advance if I portrayed anything inaccurately.)

Spock trudged down the hallway to his quarters, glancing at the clock as he went. There would be a message from his mother waiting for him on his personal PADD, but she would have lit her menorah and retired to bed hours ago. Tonight would be the start of yet another lonely Hanukkah without her.

Except, when he opened the door, there was Nyota, waiting beside his menorah with a tiny box in her hands carefully wrapped in blue and white.

He stopped in his tracks, blinking at his girlfriend of seven months. _I have not told her I am Jewish._

She held up the present, her smile nervous. “I, uh, I was going to get you a Christmas present, but then it occurred to me that you might not celebrate that, so I searched online a bit and found pictures of your mother and her family celebrating Hanukkah.”

Still stunned, Spock took the present from her. Unwrapping it carefully, he discovered a small pile of things wrapped in paper meant to imitate antique golden coins. Peeling apart the slightly clumsily wrapped décor revealed _di'kaudj_ , a sweet Vulcan fruit that was pale brown and shaped almost exactly like an old Earth coin, except for a small peak in the center of each side. Caught even further off-guard, Spock could only stare at it.

Nyota’s smile faltered. “I don’t really know much about Hanukkah, and I had no idea what to get you, so I did some research and found that _gelt_ is sometimes given to teachers. I thought it would be cute, since that’s how we met, and I found the best Vulcan substitute I could for chocolate…” She bit her lip. “You’re not saying anything. Did I mess up?”

“No,” he blurted quickly, unable to bear the idea of her thinking this gesture was nothing more than a failure. “No, I am simply… This is what my mother always gave me.”

“Really?” she exclaimed. “I had no idea.”

He set everything down beside the menorah, not quite able to look away from it. “You are the first person on Earth to think I might celebrate a human holiday.”

“That part doesn’t surprise me,” she sighed. Taking his hand, she gave it a light squeeze. “Happy Hanukkah, Spock.”

He didn’t know what say. He hadn’t known when leaving Vulcan that this moment would take so long to arrive, or how precious it would feel when it finally did. Certainly nothing in his Vulcan upbringing had ever given him the words to express that he was so thankful he was fighting back tears, or that somehow, quite illogically, he suddenly felt like he loved her a hundred times more than he had five minutes ago.

So he said nothing.

Instead, he dropped her hand to pull her into a hug, the first one of their young relationship that he had initiated. She stiffened, startled, then relaxed with a contented little hum, hugging him in return.

\-----

“You don’t have to come.”

After the rush to save Earth and stop Nero had subsided and the reality of their losses had truly set in, Nyota had told him that many times. She was trying to protect him, he knew, both from adding more grief to what he was already suffering, and from what could happen when their relationship was finally revealed to the public.

None of that mattered.

She had stuck with him throughout the duration of planning and attending his mother’s funeral, enduring the odd looks aimed at her by the Vulcans as the one human who attended by choice instead of familial necessity and eloquently rebuffing the dramatic warnings given to her by the human family members who had never approved of Amanda marrying a Vulcan. And, if the recent tragedies had taught him anything, it was that life was too short to not embrace every ounce of love he had managed to find in a lifetime of struggle.

So that was precisely what he did.

Her tune had changed to reassuring him that he didn’t have to offer any sort of comfort he wasn’t comfortable with when she realized he wasn’t going to budge about attending the funeral. That had relieved him slightly, but looking at her now, struggling to hold herself together as she mourned Gaila, her best friend of three years, he couldn’t _not_ hold her, Vulcan customs and old habits of secrecy be damned. So he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, and when she looked up at him, surprise clear even through the tears in her eyes, he silently picked up a tissue and dried her cheeks.

She smiled bittersweetly, wrapping an arm around his waist and leaning into his embrace.

\-----

Spock was sitting at his desk in their quarters, diligently working away, when Nyota came up behind him, wrapping her arms around him and nestling her chin on his shoulder. “Come to bed,” she said sleepily.

“I do not need to sleep,” he said, tilting his head to rest against hers.

“You haven’t slept for five nights,” she countered. “You start slowing down after three.”

“It is hardly noticeable.”

“I notice.”

He closed his eyes, taking a quiet moment to realize that he _was_ tired, and the idea of curling up in her arms was more than tempting. “I have to work,” he said, but the protest was half-hearted.

Sensing her nearing success, Nyota gently pried his fingers off his PADD, gathering his hands into hers. “Sleeping when you need it is logical,” she said through a yawn. “The crew needs their first officer well-rested.”

“Nyota,” he tried to say, but he was interrupted by a yawn of his own. He sighed, lifting one arm to hug her in return, leaning against her. “All right,” he acquiesced. “I will rest.”

She smiled, kissing his cheek. “Yay.”

\-----

Nyota swept through the ice tunnels with single-minded determination. She held her phaser in gloved hands, her favored dress abandoned for a thermal uniform, and still the icy chill of Andoria cut her to the bone. Jim and a few Andorians were somewhere behind her, and there was a logical voice in the back of her mind telling her to stay with the group, but Spock had been kidnapped by the anti-Vulcan extremists nearly a full day ago and _God_ only knew what they were doing to him.

_Of all the Federation ships they could’ve sent, they send in the_ one ship _with a Vulcan officer for them to take._

Of course, she knew that wasn’t why the _Enterprise_ had been chosen to help the Andorian government track down the group, but for now the misplaced anger was just more fuel for her search.

Noise caught her attention. Laughing, taunts in Andorian, and the distinct sound of flesh impacting flesh. Tracking it to behind a closed door, she kicked it down.

The room behind it was narrow and deep, cluttered with tables piled high with tools and boxes. At the back was a cleared area, and immediately the two Andorians standing in it spun to face her, shock written on their faces. One lunged for a weapon discarded on the nearest table and she shot him, knocking him backwards. She turned on the second, but he had pulled Spock up in front of him, a knife pressed to his throat. Spock clutched at the Andorian’s arm with both hands but made no move to fight him off.

“Take one step and he’s dead,” the Andorian snarled.

She kept her phaser trained on the bit of the Andorian’s head visible behind Spock, her finger tightening on the trigger as she noticed the Vulcan blood painting his fists. “If you kill him, I _will_ kill you.”

He sneered. “You’re Starfleet. You don’t kill.”

“He’s my husband.”

She said it with all the fire she had felt since he was taken, her aim unwavering, and the Andorian understood her perfectly. Glancing between them, he took his chance. Shoving Spock aside, he dove away, seeking the shelter of the nearest table.

Nyota fired, stunning him in a blast of blue before he could reach it. She was running before Spock hit the ground.

She dropped to her knees beside him, discarding her phaser but keeping it close. His shirt was torn, his face bruised, both bloodied, but beneath that, his skin was paler than the ice around him. “Nyota,” he rasped, struggling to push himself upright and reach for her with uncooperative arms.

“Easy, easy, I’ve got you,” she soothed, catching him when his arm started to buckle and pulling him into her arms. “Oh, my God, you’re _freezing_.”

He barely managed a nod in response, burying his face in the side of her neck, twisting fumbling fingers into her uniform, doing his damnedest to curl into her as much as possible. She helped, getting as much of him off the ground and into her lap as she could, rubbing warmth into every part of him she could reach. “Jim!” she called.

She heard more than saw him come running in, pausing at the sight of the unconscious Andorians and door kicked off its hinges. “Damn, Uhura.”

“Yes, you’re impressed, now would you get your coat over here?”

“Get my co- Spock!”

Finally reaching a spot where he could see them, he yanked off the garment she hadn’t thought to wear herself. He tucked it tightly around their icicle of a Vulcan, leaving a hand braced on his shoulder as he then used his phaser to heat up a pair of boulders. “Thank you,” Spock said weakly, relaxing slightly as the heat started to reach him.

He patted his shoulder, wincing at how cold he felt. “Don’t mention it.”

The Andorians they were working with finally found them. “Are these the only two you saw?” the leader asked.

Jim looked at her in silent question and she nodded. “Yes,” he told them. Half rising, he lowered his voice to her. “Stay with him, get him warmed up. I’ll handle the rest of this, and once he can walk, we’ll get out of here.”

She nodded, adjusting her hold on him as Spock started to shiver. “Thank you.”

“No problem,” he said, casting one more look at Spock before forcing himself to walk away, already rubbing his arms to ward off the chill.

She watched them start carrying away the Andorian with the fists stained with Spock’s blood, shifting to put herself between him and Spock. Only then did she turn her full attention to Spock, slowly rubbing his back and kissing the top of his head. “I’ve got you,” she murmured. “I’ve got you.”

\-----

The transporter beam was the most welcome sight Spock had seen in one month, two days, thirteen hours, and forty minutes. On his left, Suna bounced on the balls of her feet, her unpracticed control wearing thin at the idea of finally seeing her mother again. On his right, T’Lal held the present the girls had picked out for her at a planet the _Enterprise_ had visited two weeks ago.

Finally, Nyota materialized on the pad. She was fresh from her undercover observation mission, still dressed in the leather hides the planet’s natives wore, her hair cut short and face painted with traditional tattoos over prosthetic ridges along her cheekbones – prosthetics that Spock knew from experience were quite itchy and a relief to take off – but she wasted no time in greeting them. She dropped her bags on the floor and knelt down, opening her arms wide.

Immediately, Suna dove into the hug, T’Lal a step behind. Nyota beamed, pressing kisses to their hair. “I missed you two.”

T’Lal pulled back to offer up the present. “Happy belated birthday.”

Nyota picked up the little wooden plaque with a copy of a family portrait Suna had drawn burned into the wood. “I love it,” she said, carding her fingers through Suna’s hair and giving T’Lal another kiss. “And speaking of presents…”

She turned, tucking the plaque into her bag and rummaging around inside, pulling out a miniature abacus for Suna and a wooden sword for T’Lal. Both girls lit up, Suna plopping down right where she stood to use her new abacus while T’Lal stepped aside to test her new sword. Nyota watched them for a moment, glowing with love for her two stepdaughters, before rising and stepping around Suna to reach Spock.

He drew her close and she draped her arms around his shoulders, stretching up to give him a long, slow kiss. “I missed you,” she murmured when she broke away, her breath tickling his lips.

“And I you,” he said, leaning his forehead against hers, enjoying the comforting warmth of her presence. “Did you enjoy your time?”

“Mhm,” she hummed, brushing her lips against his cheek. “I need a shower, though. It was a lovely break from technology, but _God_ , I’ve missed our shower.”

“I was not going to say anything.”

She chuckled, catching him in another kiss, this one a little more heated, a little more teasing, pulling back just when he started to chase her. She looked up at him, mischief sparkling in her eyes. “You’re welcome to join me. There’s something I want to talk about.”

“Ew, they’re kissing,” T’Lal groaned.

Nyota stepped away from him, leaving him with the almost irresistible urge to pout. “I’ll make you my homemade _wali na maharage_ to apologize,” she promised teasingly, scooping Suna into her arms, the little girl still engrossed in her new abacus.

T’Lal brightened instantly, running out ahead of them. “Yes!”

Nyota followed her out, leaving Spock to collect their bags. “Later,” she mouthed at him over her shoulder, still thoroughly enjoying teasing him.

Spock definitely wished he could pout.

\-----

Nyota leaned on the balcony of their rented cottage on Risa. The night sky glimmered with countless stars, the two moons shining high above them, sparkling off the ocean visible through the trees. A warm breeze wandered by, rustling through the leaves and toying with her skirt. Arms slipped around her from behind. “Jim has taken the girls to their trail ride,” Spock said.

She rested back against him. “Care to enjoy the view?”

“I do,” he murmured, his hands drifting lower, “but not that one.”

She smiled, turning around and slipping her hands beneath his shirt, trailing her fingers along his skin in a featherlight touch before hugging him close. “What view, then?” she teased, stretching up to kiss him.

“You,” he answered, letting her push him lightly backwards. “Unless you have changed your mind about wanting another child.”

“Never,” she said, fumbling behind her to pull the door shut. She deepened the kiss, continuing to guide him backwards until they bumped into the bed. She cupped the back of his head, curling her fingers into his hair as he laid back, reaching up with one hand to undo her ponytail. She finally broke the kiss to take a breath, her hair falling around them like a curtain, cloaking them in a world all their own. “Are you sure?” she murmured.

Spock nodded. “I am sure,” he said, tracing his fingers down her face, brushing over her psi points with gentle bursts of telekinesis, twining their emotions together, all of their love and joy and excitement swelling within them, warming her more than any Risian night ever could. “I love you.”

She kissed him again, treasuring how much he trusted her in his most private, vulnerable moments, and when he returned the kiss with pure human passion, hands sliding down to unbutton her shirt, she grinned into the kiss and reached for his own shirt. “I love you, too.”


End file.
